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ICNA: Zakat for Jihad

The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) was identified as a Muslim Brotherhood organization in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in US history.

Recently, ICNA announced that they are embarking upon a $3 million propaganda campaign to promote Shariah in America:

ICNA has a division called ICNA Relief, which professes to do all sorts of good works. On ICNA Relief’s web site, they have a section on Zakat, including a Zakat “calculator” which helps Muslims figure out how much money they need to donate to zakat (a form of tithing in Islam):

Answer Number 8 for the question “Who is entitled to receive Zakat?” is the proverbial “smoking gun.”

8. Fi Sabeelillah: Those who are away from home in the path of Allah. Those in Jihaad, those seeking knowledge or a stranded Haji may be assist with Zakat if they are in need.

Those in Jihaad…(usually spelled Jihad).

No doubt, ICNA will complain that we have misinterpreted or misunderstood the meaning of the term “Jihad.”

ICNA will claim that Jihad simply means to “struggle” or “strive.”

Balderdash.

Let us examine definitions of Jihad from two authoritative sources.

The first is the Quran itself. In this case, specifically The Noble Qu’ran, translated into English by two scholars: Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali, PhD, professor of Islamic Faith and Teachings at the Islamic University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia and Dr. Muhammad Mushin Khan of the same institution. The Noble Qu’ran was published by Darussalam Publishers and Distributors, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It has been catalogued by King Fahad National Library. On page 818, in a glossary accompanying the text of the Quran, The Noble Qu’ran provides the following definition of Jihad:

Jihad: Holy fighting in the Cause of Allah or any other kind of effort to make Allah’s Word superior. Jihad is regarded as one of the fundamentals of Islam.

Our second source is Reliance of the Traveler: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law.

Reliance of the Traveler is one of the world’s most widely read manuals of Shariah law. It has been endorsed by a variety of Islamic authorities, including Al Azhar University and IIIT (International Institute of Islamic Thought).

On page 599 of Reliance of the Traveler, readers can find the following passage:

o9.0 JIHAD

(O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion…

The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus is such Koranic verses as:

(1) “Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216);

(2) “Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89);

(3) “Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36);

and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:

“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah”;

and the hadith reported by Muslim,

“To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.”

Again, no doubt, ICNA will claim that Jihad does not mean warfare to establish the religion. They will claim that the “greater Jihad” is the internal struggle in all men’s hearts, etc.

But if that was really the most widely accepted definition of Jihad, why does Reliance of the Traveler define the recipients of zakat who are in the category listed in ICNA Relief’s zakat calculator so explicitly as warriors?

On page 272, section h8.17 of Reliance, that category is labeled:

THOSE FIGHTING FOR ALLAH

The seventh category is those fighting for Allah, meaning people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army roster (O: but who are volunteers for jihad without remuneration). They are given enough to suffice them for the operation, even if affluent; of weapons, mounts, clothing, and expenses (O: for the duration of the journey, round trip, and the time they spend there, even if prolonged. Though nothing has been mentioned here of the expense involved in supporting such people’s families during this period, it seems clear that they should also be given it).

But there is still more evidence. If Jihad truly means to “struggle” and not warfare to establish the religion, how does ICNA Relief explain the names of all these terrorist organizations?

2 thoughts on “ICNA: Zakat for Jihad”

Obama claimed rules on charitable giving were making it difficult for American Muslims to satisfy the religious obligation of charity known as zakat and he promised to work “with American Muslims to ensure that they can.”
A week before the Obama speech, a federal judge in Dallas sentenced two former directors 65-year prison terms for routing $12 million to Hamas through a series of charities controlled by the terrorist group.
HLF had been considered the nation’s largest Muslim charity before being shut down in 2001 for its Hamas support. It is one of the examples some Muslim activists cite of the government interfering with zakat.